Sunday, January 06, 2013

2012...Tipping point for India

Everyone
I talk to tells me that 2012 was not a good year. The never-ending scams, persistent high inflation, slowdown in
industrial activity, lay-offs, impact of global events and towards the end, the
savage rape of a young girl. The gravity is not lost on me, but I still hold a
different view, I believe it’s was watershed year for India. It may have not
have been a great year in economic sense, but probably the best in social sense.
This year could be termed as the year of awakening of the average Indian
powered by energy of the young. Citizens gave a titanic jolt to the ineffective
political class by making its roar felt. I am certain that this year will serve
as a tipping point in the modern history of this nation.

India
has undergone colossal change over decades and obviously so have Indians. With
urbanisation of India, the struggle and aspiration of an average Indian changed
as well. A new social-strata called urban (middle) class was born. They transcended
the primal caste boundaries and were united by their routine drudgery of
day-to-day struggle. It was slogging hard to make ends meet and generate resources
to secure its future in this cut-throat world. So much so that it would
typically show up on work in the very next-hour of high-intensity disturbances
because it couldn’t afford to and was euphemistically called as resilient class.
A good majority also got exposed to the western world and saw themselves no-less
smart and intelligent and therefore worked even harder to achieve satiate its
craving.

This
class stayed mute for reasons above but was seen as stoic. It never really engaged
with Indian political tamasha, something which Indian politicians of each shade
understood very well and exploited this silent majority. The worst part is that
they kept increasing the degree of insult over years and absence of any reprisal,
gave them confidence to try out increasingly bizzare stuff including complete
disregard. The bureaucracy-police which should have held its ground, led itself
degenerate into a master-servant relationship and went the same way. In-fact
they scratched each-others back and this nexus prospered, forcing young India
to take charge of their destiny.

The
past decades also witnessed change in demographic profile. We now have a large
educated young pool - energetic and restless. Two-third of India is now less
than 35 years of age. They are willing to slog and earn their way to decent
life and expect leaders to do the same and not live in the world of
entitlements. While economic forces saw this as an opportunity – the sales
pitches identified it ‘demographic dividend’, the impact it would have in social
context was underestimated.

The
problem was despite having similar thoughts, challenges and asks nothing connected
them. It’s no surprise that internet-mobile devices provided the platform for the
like-minded group to connect and share. The facebook-twitter networks started
as a casual social network eventually metamorphosed into a potent force, a groundswell,
a tsunami which no one could afford to ignore. This connect went beyond metros
to all cities and villages. It is a bit surprising that while this played out
loud-and-clear in the context of Arab spring, why the political elite failed to
see this coming in our own country. It helped this new social class to connect
and react to situation on real-time basis. For once ‘going-viral’ had a
positive connotation. I have never been a bigger fan of this network.

And
whenever this viral phenomenon hit through course of this year, it left the
incompetent political-bureaucracy-police fumbling. This year, exposed the
extent of ineptness. A sample bungled response to recent viral outpouring - lathi-charge
and water-canons on students, Sec 144, shut-down metro, call young Indians as
Maoists, urban women called as dented-and-painted, never-to-be-heard Maun-mohan
Singh living up to his reputation and woken up from slumber after 7 days only
to say ‘theek-hai’, top-rung women political leadership Sushma-Mamta-Sheila-Jaya-Maya
making customary statements and finally so called young-connected political
leadership of Gandhi-Pilot-Scindia-Deora not to be seen anywhere. Their why-should-I-go-to-you-you-come-to-me
attitude smacks of entitlement mentality which this demographic-profile disapproves
of.

Whether it
was the Anna Hazare led protest against the corrupt-disgusting political class
or impromptu getting together to express solidarity with the Delhi girl and
demonstrating against sycophant-incapable bureaucracy-police, seeking justice, these
events mark coming of age of this new social class. It’s no more willing to
tolerate the taken-for-granted attitude and willing to hit the streets, flexing
its muscles, demanding its rights and exercising its franchise.

The rot is
deep enough, hence the diseased body will need multiple such protest-therapy sessions. 2012 saw
just one dose of medicine. The youth led social-surgery stands a good chance to
cure the patient. Yes - it will not be easy, Yes - it will painful, Yes – it will
be long-drawn but YES – it will tip the nation to its greatness and glory. Yes, we
are at a tipping point and part of that historical transformation!

The ‘Arab
Spring’ could very well give way to ‘Indian Summer’ and ‘Tahrir Square’ to the ‘India
Gate’.